The Chicago Bears Gym That Was Once A Big Box Retail Store
BearsFit, a 45,000 square foot gym in Vernon Hills, Illinois, is one of two dozen former Sports Authority Big Box retail stores that have been converted into fitness facilities
The Chicago Bears football team hired Ben Johnson as its new head coach this week.
When Johnson arrives in town he may visit BearsFit, a 45,000 square foot, team-branded and affiliated gym in Metro Chicago that opened in 2019.
One other unique thing about the BearsFit gym?
It is an adaptive reuse of a former Sports Authority Big Box retail store.
BearsFit is located in Vernon Hills, Illinois, a suburb that is about 35 miles northwest of downtown Chicago.
It was designed to model the look and feel of Halas Hall, the Bears headquarters and practice facility located just 5 miles away in Lake Forest, Illinois.
BearsFit features an ample array of fitness equipment, a 40-yard turf field, expansive locker rooms and even a kid's club.
It also a wide variety of team merchandise — and is the only official Chicago Bears team pro shop outside of Soldier Field!
Unique to other Big Box gyms, BearsFit also has a 2,500 square foot recovery lounge that features multiple cryotherapy chambers, four hydromassage chairs and six NormaTec reclining chairs that offer dynamic compression therapy.
Healthy food options — including fresh juices and smoothies — are available at the BearsFit Fuel Zone and similar to what is offered to Bears players at Halas Hall.
BearsFit also offers a variety of group fitness options — including yoga, spinning, interval training, barre and high intensity boot camp classes.
Personal training sessions are available to BearsFit members to help them “Train Like A Bear” — and some trainers are even former Bears players.
BearsFit has a large video wall composed of sixteen 46 inch screens Bears memorabilia is displayed throughout they gym.
And you might just run into familiar faces — as Chicago Bears alumni are eligible for complimentary membership and many formerly players routinely use the gym.
BearsFit is one of at least two dozen former Sports Authority stores that have since been converted via adaptive reuse into gyms and fitness facilities.
While BearsFit is the only former Sports Authority-turned-fitness facility that is affiliated with an NFL franchise it is not the only NFL team-branded gym.
Or even the only one created via adaptive reuse.
There are team-affiliated and branded fitness facilities in several NFL cities including Kansas City, San Francisco, Dallas and Cleveland.
And like the Sports Authority store-turned-BearsFit in Chicago, most of the other NFL-branded gyms are also adaptive reuse conversions of former retail stores and office buildings.
